''The Gerry Mulligan Songbook'' (subtitled ''Volume 1'') is an album by American jazz saxophonist

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrum ...

featuring performances recorded in late 1957 and released on the

World Pacific Pacific Jazz Records was a Los Angeles-based record company and label best known for cool jazz or West coast jazz. It was founded in 1952 by producer Richard Bock (1927–1988) and drummer Roy Harte (1924–2003). Harte, in 1954, also co-founded ...

label.Pacific Jazz Records Catalog: 1200 series
accessed February 23, 2016Gerry Mulligan Discography
accessed February 23, 2016

Holman arrangements

This album features many arrangements by the composer/arrange Bill Holman.

kept the original parts and scores from this album which can be found in his special collection housed at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. Viewing the original scores housed at the

, you will find that Holman had labeled the sax parts with the players he may have intended to perform this music. The sax parts are listed as follows: (Names listed on score do not have last names. Names in parentheses were added here for clarity.) * 4 & 1 Moore: (Spelling taken from original score. dated 11/57) ** Art (Pepper) - Alto 1 ** Lee (Konitz) - Alto 2 ** (Bob) Cooper - Tenor 1 ** Gerry (Mulligan) - Baritone 1 ** Willis (Bill Holman) - Baritone 2 * Turnstile: (dated 11/57) ** Art (Pepper) - Alto 1 ** Lee (Konitz) - Alto 2 ** (Bob) Cooper - Tenor 1 ** Gerry (Mulligan) - Baritone 1 ** Willis (Bill Holman) - Baritone 2 * Sextet: (dated 11/57) ** Art (Pepper) - Alto 1 ** Lee (Konitz) - Alto 2 ** (Bob) Cooper - Tenor 1 ** Willis (Bill Holman) - Tenor 2 ** Gerry (Mulligan) - Baritone * D. J. Jump (Spelling taken from original score. Disc Jockey Jump dated 11/57) ** Art (Pepper) - Alto 1 ** Lee (Konitz) - Alto 2 ** (Bob) Cooper - Tenor 1 ** Willis (Bill Holman) - Tenor 2 ** Gerry (Mulligan) - Baritone * Venus De Milo: (dated 11/57) ** Lee (Konitz) - Alto 1 ** Art (Pepper) - Alto 2 ** (Bob) Cooper - Tenor 1 ** Willis (Bill Holman) - Tenor 2 ** Gerry (Mulligan) - Baritone * Revelation: (dated 11/57) ** Art (Pepper) - Alto 1 ** Lee (Konitz) - Alto 2 ** Willis (Bill Holman) - Tenor 1 ** (Bob) Cooper - Tenor 2 ** Gerry (Mulligan) - Baritone After speaking with Bill Holman, he recalls that

Richard Bock Richard W. Bock (July 16, 1865 – 1949) was an American sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. He was particularly known for his sculptural decorations for architecture and military memorials,Lorado Taft''The History of American Sculptur ...

had come up with the idea for the album, but after Holman had finished the arrangements, Gerry Mulligan was not available in LA to record them. The music was recorded in New York in December 1957 with alternate players. The arrangement for ''Crazy Day'', was not found in the collection with the other 6 arrangements. The finders guide for the Library of Congress lists ''Crazy Day'' in the collection, but has no score, only parts. The arrangements in this collection are pencil drawn in Bill Holman's handwriting. The parts were done by a copyist, unnamed, and are not in Mulligan or Holman's handwriting.

Critical reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Scott Yanow stated "this was one of the rarer Gerry Mulligan albums. The original program consisted of seven Mulligan compositions played by a five-sax octet (including the leader on baritone, altoist Lee Konitz, Allen Eager and Zoot Sims doubling on tenor and alto, Al Cohn on tenor and baritone and a rhythm section consisting of guitarist Freddie Green, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Dave Bailey). The session has a few surprise touches, giving listeners the rare opportunity to hear Eager and Sims soloing on alto and Cohn doubling on baritone... Highly recommended for Gerry Mulligan fans".

Track listing

''All compositions by Gerry Mulligan except as indicated'' # "Four and One Moore" – 4:23 # "Crazy Day" – 7:05 # "Turnstile" – 7:53 # "Sextet" – 4:18 # "Disc Jockey Jump" – 4:35 # "Venus de Milo" – 5:08 # "Revelation" – 5:01 # "Mayreh" (

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

) – 6:02 Bonus track on CD reissue # " The Preacher" (Silver) – 6:25 Bonus track on CD reissue # "

Good Bait "Good Bait" is a jazz composition written by American jazz piano player and composer Tadd Dameron and by band leader Count Basie. It was introduced in 1944 and was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Form Good Bait uses the changes to " I've Got Rhyt ...

" (

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Tadd Dameron Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swi ...

) – 4:39 Bonus track on CD reissue # " Bags' Groove" (

Milt Jackson Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solo ...

) – 3:55 Bonus track on CD reissue

Personnel

–

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz ...

–

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

(tracks 1–7) *

Allen Eager Allen Eager (January 10, 1927 – April 13, 2003) was an American jazz tenor and alto saxophonist who also competed in auto racing and took part in LSD experiments. Early life Allen Eager was born in New York City on January 10, 1927. He grew up ...

Zoot Sims John Haley "Zoot" Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the "Four Brothers" sax section of Woody Herman's big ...

– alto saxophone,

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

(tracks 1–7) *

Al Cohn Al Cohn (November 24, 1925 – February 15, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist, arranger and composer. He came to prominence in the band of clarinetist Woody Herman and was known for his longtime musical partnership with fellow saxophonist Zo ...

– tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone (tracks 1–7) *

Freddie Green Frederick William Green (March 31, 1911 – March 1, 1987) was an American swing jazz guitarist who played rhythm guitar with the Count Basie Orchestra for almost fifty years. Early life and education Green was born in Charleston, South Ca ...

(tracks 1–7), Paul Palmieri (tracks 8–11) –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Dick Wetmore –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(tracks 8–11) *

Calo Scott Calo Scott (March 11, 1920 - August 9, 1998) was a Cuban-American jazz cellist. Scott is noted for being one of earliest known jazz cellists. He established himself in the 1950s through working with the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan when “having a ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(tracks 8–11) *

Vinnie Burke Vinnie Burke (born Vincenzo Bucci) (March 15, 1921 – February 1, 2001) was an American jazz bassist born in Newark, New Jersey.Leonard Feather & Ira Gitler ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' Oxford University Press (1999) p94 Burke play ...

(tracks 8–11),

Henry Grimes Henry Grimes (November 3, 1935 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist and violinist. After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music s ...

(tracks 1–7) – bass * Dave Bailey –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Bill Holman –

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

(tracks 1–7)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerry Mulligan Songbook, The Gerry Mulligan albums 1958 albums World Pacific Records albums